


The Element of Surprise

by Ori_Cat



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Gen, I've never actually seen Avatar, Reddit Writing Prompts, Reposted following reviewal, so I might get everything very wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-07 03:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14072112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ori_Cat/pseuds/Ori_Cat
Summary: Written for a Reddit writing prompt: "The four nations are attacked by benders who use a different element - the element of surprise."Original prompt can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/42jkor/eu_the_four_nations_are_attacked_by_benders_who/





	The Element of Surprise

They attacked at dawn, and the village wasn’t ready. They thought that if anyone was to attack them, they would come in the afternoon, because _everyone_ attacks at dawn, so the villagers would know to be ready at dawn, so any attackers would come in the afternoon when the village dropped its guard, so they had decided to just wait until the afternoon, which meant they could sleep in, which meant that there weren’t very many people on the streets when the men came. 

They were heralded by the sound of hoofbeats on the east road and a child running into the village shouting about bandits. Some people ran into the houses to grab swords or clubs or fireplace pokers. It never hurts to supplement magic. Soon there were dozens of people come out of the houses waiting in the square, just waiting to surprise the bandits when they came. 

The horses clattered on the cobbles. The bandits rounded the houses. 

A young man stepped forwards and swung his sword, suddenly aflame, at them. 

The fight began. 

There was no way the men could’ve won. There were only five of them and the villagers never saw them touch even one element. None of them could’ve been over five feet tall; one was totally bald, and the others nearly there; their skin was more wrinkled than road maps. They were old, for goodness sake! 

But they couldn’t be hurt. No gout of flame or blow of weapon hit home. The men were always just… somewhere else when it came. 

And the worst part was, they _smiled_ the entire time. Even when the villagers realized that too many of their own lay on the ground and their attackers were unhurt, even when the men drew their horses together in the centre of the square to address the now frightened and huddling crowd, they smiled. 

“Who are you? What do you want?” The voice was annoyed, but fear was rapidly leaking in. 

“We’re conquerin’ you,” yelled one of the men. “‘E’s your new emperor.” He pointed at the bald bandit with the long beard. 

_“Aren’t we s’posed to make ‘em kneel or sumthin’?”_

_“Oh yeah, right._ On yer knees!” 

“No!” came a defiant voice from the back of the crowd. “We are of the Fire Nation and I would rather die-“ 

_Whunk._

Everyone else hurriedly knelt. 

_“‘ave they got treasure? Let’s look for treasure.”_

_“Right,’n’ after that we’ll take their food.”_

The villagers could’ve sworn he didn’t see the fireball that one of them had been nursing through all this talking. He just ducked without looking and let it sail harmlessly over his head to set a roof alight on the other side of the square. 

The men grinned. Even on other stars, it held true: always expect unexpected flames.


End file.
